Kāhuli Tree Snails

While hiking in the Waiʻanae Mountains we stumbled on an unusual katydid with a distinctive black face. Cory Yap found the inch long insect which remained remarkably still as we snapped photos from all angles. We were fortunate to have Sam Gon III with us who...

One of the amazing sights found only on Oʻahu are the spectacular flowers of Lobelia oahuensis. For the past 5 years I have been monitoring a handful of Lobelia oahuensis plants to see when they would bloom. Imagine my excitement when I saw an impressive 4 foot...

We were thrilled when Ryan Chang spotted a really cool brown, white, and orange moth -- the native Hawaiian Sphinx Moth. The Hawaiian sphinx -- Hyles calida -- is an endemic sphingid moth found on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaiʻi. There are 1,450 species of...

One of the rare flowers found only on the island of Oʻahu is Cyanea humboldtiana. Cyanea humboldtiana is endemic to the Koʻolau Mountains of Oʻahu and is known as the Koʻolau Rollandia. Rollandia was once a separate genus under the Hawaiian Lobeliad Group but genetic...

I stumbled on this really cool metallic golden spider on the Big Island! Earlier this year, Francis Joy and I went to Hawai'i Island to see what interesting critters we might find. During one of our nocturnal explorations on the slopes of Mauna Kea at Kalopā State...

One of the amazing things to see in the Hawaiian biota are the spectacular flowers of Lobelia gaudichaudii. Lobelia gaudichaudii is endemic to the Koʻolau Mountains of Oʻahu and is known as the Koʻolau Range Lobelia or Gaudichaud's Lobelia. The plant was discovered...

I was thrilled when Aaron Miyamoto invited me to his home to photograph koa bugs. For nearly six months, koa bugs (Coleotichus blackburniae) had become almost an obsession. I learned that koa bugs seem to prefer formosan koa trees (Acacia confusa) -- a tree native to...

I was lucky to get some close up shots of the Piano or Giant Hawaiian Dragonfly -- Anax strenuus. Also known as the Giant Hawaiian Darner, the dragonfly is said to be the largest in the United States. The dragonfly has a wing span of about 4 inches which is large by...

We found a couple of Misumenops spiders endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. For the past several months, Francis Joy -- better known as Jay -- my spidering buddy -- and I have been looking for endemic Hawaiian spiders in remote parts of the island. Photo courtesy of...

I stumbled on a cute little round spider in the mesic forests of the Waiʻanae Mountains. While hiking though the Waiʻanae Kai Forest Reserve, an unusual spider web less than an inch across caught my attention. The web was on the topside of an ʻalaʻa leaf -- Pouteria...

I saw Philoneisa and Elasmias snails in the native forests on the slopes of Mount Kaʻala. Known as pupu kuahiwi -- literally "mountain shell" -- in Hawaiian, the snails live in the native forests and are arboreal. Philonesia snails are about a quarter inch in diameter...

We searched the native forests of Oʻahu to look for ʻakoko planthoppers, a curious-looking insect with a distinctive horn on its forehead longer than the bug itself. The Hawaiian Islands are home to 22 species of ʻakoko -- Chamaesyce -- 15 of which are endemic, and 6...

For the past several months I have been hiking to the koa forests of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island to look for Kamehameha Butterflies. Kamehameha Butterflies (Vanessa tameamea) are one of only two butterfly species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Known as "Lepelepe O...

When I heard that a population explosion of koa moths was defoliating thousands of acres of koa forests on Hawaiʻi Island I had to see for myself. The Department of Land and Natural Resources announced on February 14, 2013 that an outbreak of koa looper moths was...

For the past several months I have been looking for Aeʻo or Hawaiian Stilts in the marshes and wetlands of windward Oʻahu. The Hawaiian Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni) or Aeʻo in Hawaiian, is one of five subspecies of Black-Necked Stilt. Eons ago, a flock of...